Despite the Bank of Thailand increasing the national interest rate from 1.50 to 1.75 per cent, the company’s CEO also says Capital Summit will not aggressively hike motorcycle-hire interest rates.

For 2019, the leading motorcycle hire-purchase and personal loan service provider aims to achieve a 6 per cent growth in the number of new contracts, as well as increase the total operating income by 15 per cent.

“In 2018, Capital Summit is expected to witness an impressive growth of total outstanding loans by up to 27 per cent. In 2019, we aim to continue this trend of double-digit growth and have set a target of 19 per cent growth,” said Wichit Phayuhanaveechai, president and CEO of Summit Capital Leasing Co Ltd, during a press conference on Wednesday evening.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Capital Summit has seen an increase in motorcycle hire-purchase loans.

Their aim is to hit a fifth year in 2019, he said.

The northern region saw the highest growth of motorcycle hire purchases for the company, at 66 per cent in the first 10 months of this year. Meanwhile, the eastern region holds the highest proportion of the company’s total sales at 33 per cent, with Bangkok and central region coming second with 27 per cent of total sales.

Despite the general slowing of economic growth in the Thai economy, Capital Summit managed to increase contract booking in 2018 by 13 per cent.

However, the company expects the motorcycle leasing business to expand at a slower pace in 2019, and predict a modest 1- to 2-per cent growth, Wichit stated.

“Our forecast is in trend with the general macroeconomic trend, which is expected to grow at a slower pace in 2019,” he added.

Wichit also addressed the impact of the Bank of Thailand’s benchmark interest-rate hike on the company’s prospects.

“The hiking of interest rates from 1.5 to 1.75 per cent by the Bank of Thailand will have direct impact on our business,” he said. “This will increase our costs and lower our profit margins.

“However, Summit Capital will not aggressively increase the interest rates for our customers, as we believe that will discourage new customers from using our services.”

The solution allows corporates in Thailand to collect payments from customers via diverse payment methods including cards, bank transfers, e-wallets and cash, the bank said. The service enables corporates to experience more operational efficiency with one direct interface, eliminating their needs to integrate with multiple payment service providers, it said.

As the second-largest economy in Asean after Indonesia, Thailand is one of the fastest growing markets for digital payments adoption.

Ai Chen Lim, head of global liquidity at HSBC said: “As an international cash management bank of choice, we are excited to launch a uniquely positioned omnichannel proposition for our corporate client base; one which leverages our regional platform and extends our mobile collections service beyond the successful rollout in China.

” As a reference, Thailand’s mobile social media penetration ranks as top 10 in the world. We want to be a one-stop corporate banking provider for collections from a myriad of evolving channels to our corporate clients.

“As part of driving digitisation with the Thailand 4.0 national agenda, we have also invested in the instant payment infrastructure, known as PromptPay, for our corporate clients. Together with our newly launched the omnichannel, we are confident that we can add tremendous value to our clients looking for optimisation in their financial and operational efficiencies, leveraging market-leading digital solutions,” Lim said.

The next plan is to continue entering into partnerships with other companies to increase innovation and pushing big campaigns to boost the year-end sale, it said.

In addition, an investment of Bt165 million is planned to renovate four branches and to expand business through overseas franchising, the furniture firm said.

It said it closed with revenue of Bt7.25 billion in the third quarter. For next year, the company said it is planning for an aggressive marketing approach by joining forces with leading companies in order to promote marketing campaigns, implementing innovative ideas that create personalised items and launching seasonal campaigns.

“Our strategy is to stay flexible based on the market situation and offer valuable products at affordable prices. The company aims to expand four more branches of Index Living Mall within Bangkok and other provinces, as well as selling franchises to emerging markets such as those in Indonesia,” said Kridchanok Patamasatayasonthi, managing director of Index.

Based on www.area.co.th statistics, it is estimated that real this year’s real estate sale is Bt480 billion, 46 per cent of which are houses, while the remaining 54 per cent are high-rise buildings.

The new projects are worth approximately Bt430 billion and Bt440 billion in total, which is approximately the same as last year’s, Index said.

It is estimated that the total market value of the furniture industry by the end of the year would be Bt80 billion.

“In 2019, we have a plan to renovate six branches next year, including those in Ratchapreuk, Kaset-nawamin, Rangsit, Pattaya, Phuket and Udon Thani, at the total cost of Bt165 million. We also plan to expand four more branches in Bangkok and other provinces including Chaiyapreuk, Chantaburi, Ramindra and Sukhapiban 3.

“In our overseas operation, we will expand two more franchises in Jakarta and Bali in Indonesia. The Indonesian furniture and decorative items retail segment has shown positive growth. Major contributions are the country’s large population size, as well as the steady growth in the Indonesian economy, per capita income, and consumer behaviour,” said Kridchanok.

In a joint ceremony held together with the Social Security Office under the Ministry of Labour, Grab also announced it is contributing three months of social security payments to 200 of its driver-partners.

At the event, representatives from the Social Security Office also shared useful information on social security coverage to help driver-partners better understand their rights and privileges.

“We know that nothing is more important to our driver-partners than their families. They work really hard so that they can provide a better future for their children. Hence beyond taking care of the welfare of our driver-partners, we want to help them care for their families too. As part of that, we hope to help lighten the load of their responsibilities by supporting their kids’ education. At the same time, we want to remind our driver-partners not to neglect their own well-being. That’s why we would like to encourage them to participate in the government’s social security program – to give their loved one’s peace of mind,” Tarin Thaniyavarn, Country Head of Grab Thailand said.

This is Grab’s second ‘Grab the Future’ initiative. The first round of scholarships was awarded in May this year, to 100 children of Grab’s driver-partners. For the second ‘Grab the Future’ program, beyond the scholarships, Grab has also partnered with the Social Security Office under the Ministry of Labour to encourage more of Grab’s driver-partners to apply for social security under Section 40 of Thai law, under which they will receive compensation for medical expenses, accidents, and other welfare benefits. Grab is contributing three months’ worth of social security to 200 driver-partners, with the driver-partners themselves choosing the plans they can afford in the long run.

Aumpun Thuvavit, Deputy Secretary-General of the Social Security Office said: “We are truly glad that Grab Thailand is piloting this initiative by encouraging its driver-partners to apply for social security under Section 40 and supporting the drivers’ social security contributions.

“We also appreciate Grab’s invitation for our Social Security specialist to give a lecture today to encourage independent contractors to be in the social security system under Section 40.

“The insured will receive welfare benefits including compensation for medical expenses, accidents leading to disabilities, and more social security coverage. Our focus is to give Thai people better life assurance and reducing inequality without leaving anyone behind.”

Recipients of the social security contributions were selected based on the criteria that the driver-partner would need to have been with Grab for at least two years or shown exceptional performance over a period of six months, as well as have high passenger ratings. Recipients for the scholarships were chosen under similar criteria, with the additional requirement that the driver-partner have children studying in K-12 level in 2018 or pursuing an undergraduate degree in 2019.